traverse

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To travel or pass across, over, or through.
• intransitive verb To move to and fro over; cross and recross.
• intransitive verb To go up, down, or across (a slope) diagonally, as in skiing.
• intransitive verb To cause to move laterally on a pivot; swivel.
• intransitive verb To extend across; cross.
• intransitive verb To look over carefully; examine.
• intransitive verb Archaic To go counter to; thwart.
• intransitive verb To deny formally (an allegation of fact by the opposing party) in a lawsuit.
• intransitive verb To join issue upon (an indictment).
• intransitive verb To survey by traverse.
• intransitive verb Nautical To brace (a yard) fore and aft.
• intransitive verb To move to the side or back and forth.
• intransitive verb To turn laterally; swivel.
• intransitive verb To go up, down, or across a slope diagonally or in a zigzag manner, as in skiing.
• intransitive verb To slide one's blade with pressure toward the hilt of the opponent's foil in fencing.
• noun A passing across, over, or through.
• noun A route or path across or over.
• noun Something that lies across, especially.
• noun An intersecting line; a transversal.
• noun Architecture A structural crosspiece; a transom.
• noun A gallery, deck, or loft crossing from one side of a building to the other.
• noun A railing, curtain, screen, or similar barrier.
• noun A defensive barrier across a rampart or trench, as a bank of earth thrown up to protect against enfilade fire.
• noun Something that obstructs and thwarts; an obstacle.
• noun Nautical The zigzag route of a vessel forced by contrary winds to sail on different courses.
• noun A zigzag or diagonal course on a steep slope, as in skiing.
• noun A lateral movement, as of a lathe tool across a piece of wood.
• noun A part of a mechanism that moves in this manner.
• noun The lateral swivel of a mounted gun.
• noun A line established by sighting in surveying a tract of land.
• noun Law A formal denial of the opposing party's allegation of fact in a lawsuit.
• adjective Lying or extending across; transverse.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To cause to move across; propel.
• Athwart; crosswise; transversely.
• To lay athwart, or in a cross direction; cause to cross.
• To pass across; pass over or through transversely; wander over; cross in traveling.
• To pass in review; survey carefully.
• In gunnery, to turn and point in any direction.
• In carpentry, to plane in a direction across the grain of the wood: as, to traverse a board.
• To cross by way of opposition; thwart; obstruct.
• To deny; specifically, in law, to deny in pleading: said of any matter of fact which the opposite party has alleged in his pleading.
• To cross; cross over.
• To march to and fro.
• In fencing, to nse the posture or motions of opposition or counteraction.
• To turn, as on a pivot; move round; swivel: as, the needle of a compass traverses.
• To digress in speaking.